keeping tabs on Colorado's Senior Senator

Category Archives: from Udall Campaign

Congressman Gardner’s campaign — along with SIX outside groups — released a dozen new ads in one day earlier this week that tear down the hard work I’ve done on behalf of Coloradans, and distract voters from the real issues at stake in this election.

We can fight back right now against the dark money by showing them the strength of our people-powered campaign.

If Tea Party Republicans take over the U.S. Senate and Mitch McConnell becomes Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, they will undoubtedly undo many of the policies that have moved Colorado forward.

With climate deniers like Congressman Gardner calling the shots, the U.S. Senate would turn back the clock on our pioneering clean energy industry here in Colorado.

A GOP Senate would also take us back to a time when Colorado women were charged more for health care just because they were women, and when Coloradans with pre-existing conditions could be denied coverage.

I know that we’ll win this thing, friend, but it can’t happen without your support.

The pundits are saying Republicans have the momentum in this election and around the country. You’re our key to blunting it.

This is the biggest debate so far in our U.S. Senate race, and today when we spoke, it was clear that he is fired and up and ready to go.

Congressman Gardner’s campaign strategy is simple: deny the facts in order to deceive voters.

He denied sponsoring a federal personhood bill to outlaw abortion and ban common forms of birth control — a claim that made national headlines last week and earned him a “Whopper of the Week” label from POLITICO and FactCheck.org.1

In the very same week, Congressman Gardner denied taking a vote that shut down the government last year — despite admissions from John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, and other prominent Republicans saying that’s exactly what happened.

No matter what new claims Congressman Gardner makes during this debate, we must show him that we won tonight.

If we hit our $25,000 goal today, we’ll show Congressman Gardner and his millionaire friends that we are fighting with Mark all the way to victory in November.

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Having served with him in the U.S. Senate, I know Mark Udall well, and I know that he’s a fighter.

Mark fights every day to build an economy that works for the middle class. He fights to protect our climate, to defend our privacy rights, and to keep the government out of our private health care decisions. But now, we must fight for Mark.

You see, friend, Mark is at the center of national attention because Republicans have set a goal to buy Colorado’s U.S. Senate seat and complete the Tea Party takeover of the U.S. Senate. We can’t let that happen. I know that with Mark’s strong base of grassroots support, we will notlet Congressman Gardner become the 51st vote to shut down the government during our next crisis.

Thank you,

Michael Bennet

Outside spending has hit a new high. Millions of dollars in unrestricted, dark money are flowing into Colorado from out of state. The Koch brothers and Karl Rove are trying their hardest to replace a true fighter for the people of Colorado.

This election will be close, but the difference between Mark and Congressman Gardner could not be any clearer. A year ago — almost to the day — Congressman Gardner went to Washington and voted to shut down the federal government, even as Colorado communities were still struggling to recover from last fall’s historic floods.

This decision showed once again that Congressman Gardner is willing to put his reckless partisan agenda ahead of the needs of Coloradans who are struggling the most. Congressman Gardner’s priorities aren’t just backwards, they’re wrong for Colorado and a disqualifier to be a U.S. Senator.

We will win this election because of our relentless grassroots base of supporters like you.

The Huffington Post’s polling average has this election essentially tied with our team leading Congressman Gardner 45.5% to 45.1%.

With polls this tight, and Nate Silver calling this the most competitive race in the country, our very last end-of-quarter fundraising goal is the campaign’s most important deadline ever.

The Koch brothers and Karl Rove are spending millions of dollars on attack ads per week to smear my record of doing right by Colorado. And now we’re seeing the effects of this outside money inside Colorado.

We cannot let Congressman Gardner and his dark money, special interest allies keep up this momentum heading into October. Hitting our fundraising deadline is critical, and I’m asking for your help.

As I’ve said from the beginning, some polls will show us up and others will show us down. But with the support you continue showing our campaign, I’m confident we’ll summit together in November.

Up until now I’ve always said that this U.S. Senate race is “one of” the closest and most competitive in the country. Now, Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight.com election analysis is calling this race the most competitive in the country.

As a result, your contribution today is more important than ever. Next week is our very last and most important end-of-quarter fundraising goal of the entire campaign.

Learning that our race against Congressman Gardner is the nation’s tightest may not be much of a surprise to you or me, but this designation will inevitably lead to even more out-of-state, dark money flowing into Colorado to try to buy this election.

The Koch brothers and Karl Rove are already dumping millions of dollars per week into negative attack ads to smear my record of standing up for Colorado. With Nate Silver’s new forecast, the next few weeks will bring an even bigger outpouring of dark money into this race.

That’s why we can’t stop working. We must continue to fight against the special interests and right now that means hitting our end-of-quarter grassroots fundraising goal.

It’s essential we start our final month of the campaign on a strong footing. If you have my back for the next six weeks

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Three years ago this weekend we celebrated the reversal of the discriminatory Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. I’m proud to have spearheaded the effort in Congress to put an end to this backward policy. Today we continue our fight for equality in Colorado and across the United States.

My opponent, Congressman Gardner, has a long record of opposing equal rights for all Coloradans. He voted to allow discrimination against LGBT Coloradans by employers, housing providers, and even cemeteries. There just couldn’t be a clearer contrast in our views on this issue, friend. Will you chip in $5 so that we can continue to build a strong campaign that looks out for ALL Coloradans? As Coloradans, we value fairness and the freedom to live life on our own terms. That means that no matter who you are — or which person you choose to love — you deserve to be treated equally. That’s the Colorado way. I’m proud to have led the fight to overturn the military’s misguided Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, and I won’t stop fighting until every loving couple has the opportunity to marry. It’s 2014, and it’s about time our policies reflected that.

This campaign is about choices. It’s about a choice between advancing towards full equality for all Coloradans, or retreating backwards to the wrong side of history.

I hope you will stand with me as I fight for these basic rights and to continue standing up for ALL Coloradans.

If you’re having trouble keeping up with all of the polls around this U.S. Senate race, you’re not alone. In the last month, polls have shown us up a lot, up a little, tied, and, yes, even down.

Most of these polls show this race within the margin of error. That’s why the pundits say it’s a toss-up that could flip the U.S. Senate. And that’s why loads of right-wing outside spending is flowing into Colorado.

With Congressman Gardner’s dark money allies outspending us on the air, our last end-of-quarter goal before the end of the campaign is absolutely critical for us to hit.

As I’ve said since we kicked off this campaign, the polls in this race were always going to be all over the map. And just like the weather on top of a mountain can change in an instant — so too do the polls in this neck-and-neck race.

Friend, you have consistently had my back every step of the way, and I’m so grateful for your help in powering this grassroots-powered campaign. As we get closer to Election Day, I need you standing with me more than ever so that, together, we can reach the summit in November.

That’s why I need your help to hit our last $300,000 fundraising goal.

It doesn’t matter whether the pundits say we’re 5 points up or 5 points down, I’m confident we will win in November and claim this 14er for the people of Colorado — not the big money, special interest groups.

The 2010 Citizens United decision enabled the Koch brothers and a handful of billionaires to spend an unrestricted amount of money to influence any election, without disclosing who they are or what private agendas they’re pushing.

They’re targeting me in this election because they know I have stood with Coloradans to work on behalf of our communities, not out-of-state special interests.

I will continue working in the U.S. Senate to bring about true campaign finance reform. But for now, we must band together and show the Kochs that we the peoplewon’t stand by and watch them hijack our elections.

Last week, Nate Silver laid out a gloomy forecast for our U.S. Senate race, giving Congressman Gardner a 54% chance of winning in November. This week, he reversed course after a series of new polls in our race and now gives us the upper hand — with a 68% chance of victory on Election Day.

I owe every boost in the polls to this grassroots campaign, friend, and I’m so glad to have you on my side fighting for Colorado’s middle class families and against outside special interest spending.

But we can’t stop working. There are still 52 days left until we can celebrate on Election Day, and that means we must continue climbing upward every day.

Our next big test is our September fundraising goal. It’s our most ambitious goal of the entire campaign, and I need your help to make sure we can hit it.

I’ve said from the beginning that some polls in this race will show us up, and others will show us down. But as long as you’ve got my back, I know we’ll summit together in November.

Tomorrow night in Grand Junction, Coloradans will get their first chance this election to see Senator Mark Udall and Congressman Cory Gardner together on stage. The Club 20 debate will provide both candidates an opportunity to speak about their record of accomplishment … or run from their record, in Rep. Gardner’s case.

Perhaps unexpectedly, our two campaigns agree on one of the major issues in this race: Rep. Gardner’s record is out of step with Colorado values. We know it. They know it. Voters know it.

It’s that acknowledgement that explains Gardner’s attempts to obscure his history on a wide range of issues important to Coloradans. Where we disagree, however, is whether voters will be fooled by the “Who, me? Couldn’t be!” act he’s putting on in an attempt to hide his true agenda from voters.

Even though the debate isn’t until tomorrow, as a courtroom-trained politician who gained Tea Party fame by sticking to his talking points on cable news, it’s already clear what Rep. Gardner will say. While he often touts his experience as a salesman, these days it’s clear he’s moved on from tractor parts and is now in the snake oil business.

GARDNER: It’s time for a new generation of leadership; one that’s accountable to the next generation.

THE FACTS:

Gardner says he’s new, but his ideas are outdated, backwards, and wrong. He led an eight-year crusade for radical Personhood initiatives that would ban all abortions and outlaw common forms of birth control. Worse still, he continues to support a nationwide Personhood bill in Congress despite telling Coloradans he no longer backs such measures. He fought the Senate’s bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform package and voted with the House’s most anti-immigrant members to deport DREAMers. He voted to end Medicare’s guarantee, eliminating the system as we’ve always known it and forcing seniors to use a voucher to find their own, more expensive coverage. Since 2006, Gardner has fought every proposed minimum wage increase, hurting working Coloradans’ ability to build a better life for themselves and their

families. And he favors the wealthy and powerful corporations over everyday Colorado families by preserving tax breaks for companies who fire American workers and ship their jobs overseas, protecting Wall Street executives’ golden parachutes, and voting to increase middle class taxes by $2,000 just to give millionaires a huge tax cut. Gardner’s values aren’t Colorado’s values.

FOCUS ON THE ECONOMY

GARDNER: Mark Udall is the social issues warrior in this campaign. I’m running to create jobs and grow the economy.

THE FACTS:

In his first campaign for Congress, Congressman Gardner promised voters he wouldn’t push any abortion- related bills. He went back on his word in his first week on the job, immediately sponsoring a bill to strip funding from Planned Parenthood. Since then, he’s backed several outdated measures that would narrow what Medicaid considered rape, allow hospitals to deny life-saving care to a woman if it would terminate a pregnancy, and ban common forms of birth control.

Congressman Gardner, as Personhood USA said this summer, “built his entire political career on support of personhood.” Gardner is the one pushing these troubling measures in Congress, he just doesn’t want anyone to talk about his backwards agenda on the campaign trail.

PERSONHOOD & BIRTH CONTROL

GARDNER: I support making birth control pills available over-the-counter, something Mark Udall opposes. I changed my position on Personhood after listening to the people of Colorado. It was a bad idea driven by good intentions that I no longer support. The Life at Conception Act is a mere statement of position that would not change the law.

THE FACTS:

Aside from his laughable claim to have just this year learned that Personhood would ban common forms of birth control (something Colorado Right to Life, Ken Buck, and 70% of Coloradans knew in 2010), Congressman Gardner continues to push a Personhood bill in Congress, the Life at Conception Act.

Unfortunately for Gardner, he is alone in his bizarre assertion that a bill in Congress wouldn’t change the law. Who’s on record otherwise? Pretty much everyone who’s weighed in:

● FactCheck.org

● Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)

● Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)

● Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA)

● Yes on 67 (Pro-Personhood campaign)

● Pro-Life Alliance

● PersonhoodUSA

● Planned Parenthood

It may be one of the few areas in which Planned Parenthood and PersonhoodUSA see eye-to-eye. There’s no denying that despite telling voters he opposes Personhood, he’s still trying to make it the law behind their backs.

Mark believes over-the-counter access to oral contraceptives would be a good thing, but insurers must not be let off the hook for covering contraception at no additional cost to patients, as it is now thanks to reforms Mark passed into law. Mark’s position is supported by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Planned Parenthood, who stress that removing insurance coverage from The Pill, as Gardner said he’d do, would increase women’s costs and decrease affordability.

IMMIGRATION

GARDNER: We need to fix our broken immigration system. I’ve pushed Speaker Boehner to take up immigration reform and will continue to lead on this important issue.

THE FACTS:

Congressman Gardner is slick with words, there’s no denying that. What he hasn’t realized yet, though, is that actions matter more than words. He may sometimes utter vague, lofty words about the need for reform, but those words contradict an entire career’s worth of unwelcoming, hostile and downright mean-spirited actions.

The record speaks for itself. No true reformer votes with infamous anti-immigrant Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who once referred to DREAMers as drug smugglers with “calves the size of cantaloupes,” every 9 out of 10 times on immigration.

CLEAN ENERGY

GARDNER: I believe in an all-of-the-above approach to energy. I co-wrote the law that launched Colorado’s clean energy economy and support renewables in addition to traditional forms of energy.

THE FACTS:

Gardner laughably claims that a bill he cosponsored in 2007 and created the Clean Energy Development Authority is responsible for “launching” Colorado’s clean energy economy. Ignoring the fact that Colorado was a national clean energy leader well before 2007, the legacy of Gardner’s 2007 bill is nothing to brag about.

Even though supporting green energy projects was its mission, the Clean Energy Development Authority never financed or issue bonds for a single project. It never even hired any employees. In fact, it halted operation in 2009 and was outright abolished in 2012.

Rather than hanging his hat on this bill, he should be hanging his head.

HEALTH CARE

GARDNER: Mark Udall was elected on a lie. He said he opposed government-sponsored health insurance, yet he voted for Obamacare. He bullied the Division of Insurance when they put out numbers he didn’t like.

THE FACTS:

As we’ve come to expect from Congressman Gardner, his attacks over the Affordable Care Act have no basis in reality. PolitiFact named Gardner’s attack the Lie of the Year in 2010, but that hasn’t stopped him from repeating it. In a 2008 debate, Mark said he favored improving the current employer-based system over a government-run single payer plan, and that subsidies could be utilized to make health care affordable for low-income Coloradans. He said we must stop insurance companies from discrimination against people with preexisting conditions and improve electronic record-keeping. He kept his word.

When the Division of Insurance suggested Colorado had a unrealistically high number of the nation’s health plan cancellations — far higher than any other state in the nation — Mark Udall sounded the alarm and began investigating. When it was discovered that Colorado authorities were using a different metric and the vast majority of the cases (92%) were able to renew their current policies, Mark worked to make sure that Colorado families wouldn’t be misled by poorly worded insurance policy statements. As the Denver Post wrote at the time, “Udall insisted that most of those cancellations included a renewal offer — a point that is actually correct.” The truth is, Mark Udall believes we should work together – both parties – to fix what’s not working and keep moving forward. That’s what Coloradans want and what they deserve.

Rather than work across the aisle to fix our health care system, Congressman Gardner’s solution was to shut down the federal government when Colorado needed it most. The truth is Gardner has voted more than 50 times to go back to when insurance companies could jack up your rates, cut your coverage, pocket your cash, and then drop you if you got sick. He voted to put insurance companies back in charge, to go back to when they could refuse to cover Coloradans with preexisting conditions. Gardner says he’s new, but his reckless health care agenda is outdated, backwards, and wrong.